What is PEG? Why is it ‘Considered Safe’?

PEG is a widely used petrochemical for all kinds of purposes in all kinds of products. If you’ve had a colonoscopy, you’re probably familiar with MiraLax or GoLytely? PEG. It’s a very potent laxative. It can also act as an emollient (to soften and lubricate the skin), a humectant (which brings moisture to skin), a surfactant, an emulsifier (keeping ingredients evenly mixed – think any no-shake version of a mixture that contains both oil and water, i.e. make-up remover), a thickener, an excipient in medicines and a penetration enhancer for topical products like cosmetics (getting the active ingredients further into your body/skin/cells/etc.), a lubricant (both mechanical and, ehm, personal), a stabilizer, a propellant (yes, like jet fuel), a dispersant in sprays, an anti-foaming agent in food and drinks, and the main ingredient in paint ball filler.

PEG is considered safe by the FDA. Follow that link to Wikipedia’s massive amounts of sources to credit this.

PEG is considered biologically inert and safe by the FDA. However, a growing body of evidence shows the existence of a detectable level of anti-PEG antibodies in approximately 72% of the population, never treated with PEGylated drugs, based on plasma samples from 1990–1999.^[39] Due to its ubiquity in a multitude of products and the large percentage of the population with antibodies to PEG, hypersensitive reactions to PEG are an increasing concern.^[40][41] Allergy to PEG is usually discovered after a person has been diagnosed with an allergy to an increasing number of seemingly unrelated products, including processed foods, cosmetics, drugs, and other substances that contain PEG or were manufactured with PEG.^[40]

Wiki page for Polyethylene Glycol

That last sentence describes my experience to a T! I had this ever-growing list of things that caused allergic symptoms, but I couldn’t find a connection.

This isn’t a new idea, but it certainly was news to me! Imagine my shock when I found these studies and articles about the topic:

• Polysorbate 80 in medical products and nonimmunologic anaphylactoid reactions
• Analysis of Pre-existing IgG and IgM Antibodies against Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) in the General Population
• CAN YOU REALLY BE ALLERGIC TO AN “INACTIVE” INGREDIENT? (this is specifically about PEG)
• Basically every citation on the PEG wiki page

High molecular weight polyethylene glycols and polysorbates are common ingredients in a wide variety of medications, household products and industrial products which may provide a vehicle for sensitizing susceptible individuals.  Allergists and consumers should be aware that sensitization leading to an immediate hypersensitivity type allergy to polyether containing compounds such as polyethylene glycols and polysorbates can occur, and that such reactions may currently be under-recognized.

“Can You Really Be Allergic to an “Inactive” Ingredient?

Certainly, my experience is that PEG is not safe for me. I sought out medical advice on a test for PEG, but was told that there was not a skin test currently available that was worth the potential risk of a severe anaphylactic reaction. (There seems to be some debate about what to call this reaction, but the results are the same, so I’m not splitting hairs.)

Short of a reliable test, the other option is an elimination diet. Used in helping with food sensitivities, “an elimination diet is a meal plan that avoids or removes certain foods or ingredients so you can find out what you might be sensitive to or allergic to.” Since this could be in foods, as well as anything else I would come in contact with, the logical choice for me was to reduce the contact I had with PEG and its myriad of synonyms.

The reality of eliminating my contact with PEG was that it might prove this allergy hypothesis or it might prove nothing. But it certainly couldn’t hurt me. I could remove products from my daily use for a time and if nothing changed, I could reintroduce them without any real consequences. So why not?

The next hurdle: purging the cabinets of this stuff. But to effectively do that, we had to know what all of PEG’s aliases were.

Click here to continue reading the PEG series.

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and nothing in this post is meant, or should be interpreted, as medical advice. If you have questions about your health or vaccinations, speak to a medical professional who is familiar with your health situation and medical history.